54 - MISSALE ROMANUM ad usum sacrosancte romane Ecclesie. Venice, Andreas & Jacobus Spinelli, 1555. Gothic folio, brown calfskin cold-stamped on board, with a pattern of fillets and a roulette border, four brass corner pieces and a central bouillon, four clasps with copper fasteners, the title MISSALE hand-penned on the side edge (contemporary Italian binding).

MISSALE ROMANUM ad usum sacrosancte romane Ecclesie. Venice, Andreas & Jacobus Spinelli, 1555. Gothic folio, brown calfskin cold-stamped on board, with a pattern of fillets and a roulette border, four brass corner pieces and a central bouillon, four clasps with copper fasteners, the title MISSALE hand-penned on the side edge (contemporary Italian binding). A beautiful Venetian missal printed in two columns in large red and black Gothic type, with musical notation. Abundant illustrations including numerous small woodcuts within the text, a scene of the Last Judgment on the title page, a beautiful ornamental frame with a repeated cut-leather design, another of an architectural style, and a large Crucifixion (f. CXXXVI v°). (Essling, Venetian Missals, no. 128.) Spinelli printer’s mark at the end. This copy was likely set in an Italian binding of the period or earlier, as the lining and endpapers have been replaced and the first two quires protrude. Two introductory leaves and leaf XX are missing. Slight water stains and spots on a few leaves; small wormholes on the title page. Restoration at the top of the front cover and on the upper hinge, which has cracked again.